Tadao Ando’s Works in Korea 1- Yumin Art Nouveau Collection (Genius Loci)
For Tadao Ando, light, wind, rain are important elements for his works, and the architecture is a medium for people to experience their presence.
Should I be considered lucky since in the two occasions of my visits to Genius Loci, I have got to experience the place the fullest due to the weather? (That is, bad weather days.)
My first visit is on a windy and rainy day in 2016. (You might say a typical day on Jeju.) At that same, Genius Loci was then a place for meditation. There were three different spaces for meditation inside. The first one was “Diary” by artist Kyeongwon Moon, through which we get to appreciate everything in life is in a cycle by observing the life cycle of a tree. The second one was Yesterday’s Sky, which allows us to reflect on yesterday through the projection of yesterday’s sky onto the ground. And the third one was Landscape of Today serves as a medium to meditate through the real time image of Ilchulbong.
My second visit in 2018 was again on a typical Jeju windy day (well, at least this time there was no rain), so on both visits, I was forced by nature to enter into the indoors environment as soon as possible.
When I went inside, I found it was totally different from what I had expected from my last visit, and I understood why the sign was changed to Yumin Art Nouveau Collection (유민미술관) outside. The exhibits were changed from those designed for meditation to glass artworks from the Art Noveau period, and the galleries became Inspiration Gallery, Masterpiece Gallery, Peak of Art Nouveau Gallery and Lamp Gallery for the artworks.
Jeju’s “Three Abundances” (wind, women, rock) is too famous not to make a presence here in architectures designed to emphasize the natural environment. The gardens in the museum was divided into 3 different parts, rock garden constructed with volcanic rocks, circular garden designed like a women’s embrace, and wind garden- a cubic structure in which wind flows.
Tadao Ando likes to use walls and staircases as transition and to hide the beauty in the next part of his work for the viewers to discover on their own. (Spoiler alert!) The most interesting part of Genius Loci is how we can see Seongsan Ilchubong in a “viewfinder” after we walk past a walkway with water falling from both sides.
I like the place in my first visit more, the simpler exhibits, but I guess it can cater for more viewers with different tastes now. For viewers who wish to see more exhibits, there is the Art Nouveau collection, and for others, it has kept some of the elements for contemplation of the nature.
A lot of people may think about Japan if they want to see Tadao Ando’s works, actually there are a few pieces of his works in Korea too, and there are 3 in Jeju Island. If you are interested in Tadao Ando, make sure you put Jeju Island on your itinerary in your trip to Korea.
Genius Loci (지니어스로사이)/Yumin Art Nouveau Collection（유민미술관）
Adult Entrance Fee：12000W
Opening Hours：0900–1800
Closed on Tuesdays (except when it falls on holidays or national day)
Phone：064–731–7791
Transport: walk to Genius Loci from Seopjikoji (if you drive there, the navigation will guide you to Seopjikoji car park)
